I've been sitting at my local Panera most of the day writing. I wanted to take a little break from SHADOW DEMONS for a few, so I'm hiding out on my blog.
When I first started writing full time (about three years ago), I had a really hard time motivating myself to work all day. I never realized how hard time management could be. I always thought that people who worked for themselves were just so lucky and they had it so easy. God, was I wrong! Working for yourself and setting your own hours is HARD. It definitely has its rewards, but in order to make it work, you have to truly learn some self-discipline.
I am not the most disciplined girl in the world. My bathroom is always messy. My computer desk is crazy unorganized. Hell, even the desktop on my computer is cluttered. I like to stay up late and sleep in. I spend hours a week gaming. And I love to shop. Before I found my motivation, I used to waste most of my days. I could hardly get 500 words a day written, and most of the time I just threw out whatever I was writing.
Fast forward three years and I'm writing 2,000 words a day on average. I've written and published three full books since September, and I'm already halfway through Book 4. So how did I do it?
In 20 minute spurts. I started with a little kitchen timer and now have started using my cell phone timer. I set it for 20-30 minutes depending on how I'm feeling, and just go go go. When my 20 minutes is up, I take a break. I pamper myself and do something fun. I watch an episode of something fun like Arrested Development (I heart Netflix) while I do my nails. Then, I set my timer again and get back to work. Somehow, I manage to fit in 2,000 words, two long walks a day, meals, chatting time with my husband and friends, and I still have time for social networking, blogging and yes, gaming.
Instead of sitting down to write this very daunting daily word count, I break it into small, manageable chunks. It makes the day seem do-able. I just write out my to-do list in the mornings (okay, some days it's 11:00 when I crawl out of bed, but for now, we'll just call that "morning"), then go about completing the list 20 minutes at a time. I'm not perfect by any means. My desk is still a mess and I probably have dirty dishes waiting for me at home, but I'm writing and besides spending time with husband, that's the most important part of my day.
And now my 20 minutes is up, so I'm going to wrap up this blog post and get back to SHADOW DEMONS.
20 Minutes At A Time
Call Me Indie
On his blog this week, Nathan Bransford brought up the question: Who should have the Indie Label: Self-Publishers or Small Presses?
It's a good question. As a self-proclaimed Indie author, I thought I would throw in my two cents. I think in order to really look at the term, you have to look at how it's used in other venues. Like Indie Rock for example. The funny thing is that when I started googling 'Indie', I realized that there is some level of controversy surrounding that term in both music and films. No one is sure whether it should be given to bands with a certain sound or if it simply refers to anyone who makes music with a certain set of Indie record labels. Apparently people have their own vigorous opinions on the matter.
How could we expect the term to be any different in the publishing business? /shrug. According to wikipedia, Indie is simply a shortform of the word "independent". The Free Dicitonary online defines indie as "1. One, such as a studio or producer, that is unafilliated with a larger or more commercial organization. 2. An artistic work produced by an independent company or group." Dictionary.com says it is "1. an independently owned business. 2. self-employed; privately owned."
I understand that some small presses have been using the term Indie to describe themselves and their authors for years. Self-published authors, for the most part, didn't really register. The problem of no distribution meant most self-pubs weren't selling enough to even make a difference on a grander scale. Then there are the 'vanity publishers' that charge enormous fees to 'publish' an author's books. Some people still hear self-published and automatically think vanity. But times have changed. According to the definitions above, I think those Indie presses are going to have to scoot over and give self-published authors some room.
With the negative stigma placed on the term 'self-published' over the years, authors who are self-publishing will naturally want to come up with some other term to describe ourselves. We want to push away from that stigma that says we can't write for crap or that we are only self-publishing because we couldn't get a publishing contract. Things are different now, so the terms should also evolve. And 'Indie' already has a much more positive connotation. I say that if you have a problem with self-published authors calling themselves independent, you're a little bit crazy. And probably a little behind the times. Or at least in denial about how fast the publishing world is changing.
To say I'm Indie means also saying I'm free from corporate pressure or obligation. I'm brave enough to take my future into my own hands. It means I am willing to let the readers be my gatekeepers. Being Indie means I am taking full responsibility for what happens in my own writing career. It means that I am publishing my own artistic and creative works independent of any corporation or larger commercial organization's investments.
It would be cool if I could come up with some brand-new fresh word to describe what it is authors like me are doing. I mean, I have an easy time coming up with words to describe us. Brave. Free. Awesome. :P Words like that. But since people have already started using the term 'Indie' and since the definition seems to fit, I think that's what we're probably going to be called. And I'm okay with that.
Anyone who isn't is just going to have to get over it.
Writing Through the Rough Spots
Rough drafts are always difficult for me. I constantly worry that the story isn't going the way it should or that things aren't ever going to come together. The more books I write, however, the easier it becomes to trust my process. SHADOW DEMONS is my fourth book in the Peachville High Demons series, but overall, it will be my sixth completed novel. I feel like after several years and all those manuscripts, I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.
But every day isn't sunshine and puffy clouds. I set a plan to write 2,000 words a day, but there are some definite rough spots. Today, for example, I had planned to write like crazy. I even set a goal on Twitter to write 8,000 words. It's now 4:30 in the afternoon. Guess how many words I've written today. ZERO. Well, not counting this blog and all the emails and chat I've sent today. It's been a rough day.
Sometimes I hit days where the writing is rough simply because I have no good feel of what the next scene is going to be. I sit down in front of a blank screen and start to freak out. No fresh ideas come to me, and I panic. Other days, it's personal and emotional issues that keep me from writing like I should. Today is one of those emotional days. I won't go into the personal stuff, but I will say that I found out some very upsetting news today x 3. Three completely separate things, all of which made me cry like a little baby. It's so tough to step away from that emotional side of myself and push aside the personal concerns in order to write about what's going on in Harper's world. You would think it would provide a much-needed escape, but for me, it doesn't really work like that. I've never been good at reaching a point of detachment between my writing and my personal life.
So how do I push through and keep writing? I think the most important thing is to just go easy on myself on days like this. Instead of beating myself up for not reaching my goals, I should give myself a little bit of a break. If I want to indulge in a little TV watching or something, I should go for it. No guilt. But the second part of that is to pick myself up and keep pushing forward. A break is good, but wallowing in self-pity or beating myself up over the little things isn't going to help me get this book written.
In a way, I guess it all comes down to balance. I have to learn to give myself the time I need to heal or deal with whatever's upsetting me or keeping me from my writing, but I also have to recognize when that time is up and the writing is ready to flow again. I'm not perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't reach my goals and strive to be a better person and a better writer. I'm going to give myself a couple of hours to read and relax, and then I plan to get back to my writing full force tonight. I still might make at least my 2,000/day goal. As for the 8,000 I was hoping for? There's always tomorrow.
And as Scarlet O'Hara would say, tomorrow is another day.
Shadow Demons Update
Book 4 is starting to get interesting! I'm a little less than halfway through the rough draft, and this is the part where I really start to know what the story is about. I always start with some idea of what's going to happen in the book, but somewhere along the way, everything changes. When I start a new book, even if it's part of a series like this one, I spend the first few weeks being absolutely certain that I have no talent and that this book is going to suck. The story doesn't seem to be coming together at all. I don't feel good about the things the characters are saying or doing. It just seems like a mess.
But somewhere in the middle of writing the draft, ideas just start to come to me. Things start to fall into place. Nothing is perfect, but I can finally start to see the potential in the novel. That's the part I just hit last night when I was sitting at Panera writing with friends. I was in the middle of writing a scene and BAM, I just knew what was going to happen. Don't ask me where the ideas come from. They just come. I sometimes wonder if the stories are already formed somewhere else. Like just floating somewhere in the ether. And they're just waiting for writers to trust the process and just reach for the ideas that have been brewing up there all along.
Do I sound completely crazy? Maybe I am in some ways. But I'll tell you one thing. I'm loving every minute of it.
A Simple Graph To Show The Logic
If you haven't been following Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler's epic dialog on Ebooks and Self-Publishing, you're missing out. Go read it. Now. I seriously feel like they just put into words exactly what I've been talking to my husband and my friends about for months now. You can find the conversation in 2 parts (so far): Here and Here.
In part 2, Barry talks about how he crunched the numbers. He says it much better than I can, so I'm going to post a direct quote from Joe's blog, which is also from an interview Barry did with Daily Beast:
Being so accustomed to, and dependent on, the legacy model, it took a fair amount of work for what I knew intellectually to start to penetrate at a gut level. The timelines, for example. I’m used to thinking in terms of publishing contracts, so let’s take a hypothetical two-book, $100,000 offer... or, okay, let’s make it real: a two-book, $500,000 offer. My tendency has been to focus too much on that big, seductive number. But to understand what the number really represents, you have to break it down. Start by taking out your agent’s commission: your $500,000 is now $425,000. Then divide that $425,000 over the anticipated life of the contract, which is three years (execution, first hardback publication, second hardback publication, second paperback publication). That’s about $142,000 a year. This is a more realistic way of looking at that $500,000.
But there’s more. Some people have mistakenly argued that, for my move to make financial sense, I’ll have to earn $142,000 a year for three years. But this is one time when you don’t want to be comparing apples to apples. Because the question isn’t whether I can make $425,000 in three years in self-publishing; the question is what happens regardless of when I hit that number. What happens whenever I hit that point is that I’ll have “beaten” the contract, and then I’ll go on beating it for the rest of my life. If I don’t earn out the legacy contract, the only money I’ll ever see from it is $142,000 per year for three years. Even if I do earn out, I’ll only see 14.9% of each digital sale thereafter. But once I beat the contract in digital, even if it takes longer than three years, I go on earning 70% of each digital sale forever thereafter. And, as my friend Joe Konrath likes to point out, forever is a long time.
He mentioned that he'd like to see a basic graph showing how these numbers compare. My husband quickly put together this graph so anyone can see just how much more money Barry can make long-term with self-publishing than he ever would have with a legacy contract. It's super simple, but the message is clear. Here's the difference in earnings over the course of the next 10 years. This image assumes Barry wouldn't have earned out his original advance:
Of course, if Barry did earn out his advance at SMP, the blue legacy line would have gone up instead of staying static. Still, as he points out, he would only be making 14.9% of each digital sale after that. I doubt the royalties earned from that small percentage would be anywhere near what Barry will earn self-publishing with a 70% royalty.
The numbers here are definitely interesting. It might be fun to put together a webpage where authors could plug in various number scenarios to figure out possible earnings comparisons. G said he's going to work on putting that together.
For now, I just want to go on record as saying a HUGE thank you to people like Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler who are willing to speak honestly about the choices authors have to make right now. So much of what Joe says on his blog truly resonates with me. It took me a while to decide not to look for an agent. (Okay, I sent out ONE query letter.) But once I made the decision to self-publish, I knew I'd never look back.
More power to Amanda Hocking for making the decision that she felt was right for her. Like Joe says, I hope she succeeds and wish her the best. For me, however, I doubt I will ever take a legacy publishing deal if it were offered to me. Regardless of the money aspect, I just don't think I could ever give up creative control. I love being the one with the final say on my covers and titles. I love being able to break the so-called "rules" and write what I want to write without worrying if an editor or agent will like it. I love being an indie author. Besides, I love getting my books out as soon as they're published. I like the instant feedback I get instead of waiting a year after I finished the book to finally see it in print and have someone finally review it. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the talk.
For now, check out Joe's blog. It's epic.
March Sales Numbers
March was the most AMAZING month for me! I am still in shock at how much sales blossomed last month. I think for most of the month, I was riding high on the release of Book 3. Plus, I had a lot of book reviews come out on various book blog sites, and I know that had a positive impact. I owe a lot to all the book bloggers who took the time to read my books and review them.
Most of the sales growth was in the Kindle store. For most of the month, all three of my books were in the Top 1000 sales ranking of the Kindle store, which was super exciting. Beautiful Demons even went up to the mid-300's a couple of times. Unfortunately, over the past few days, the books have slipped all the way to around 1500 sales rank. It's still good, but definitely falling off just a little bit. For example, I sold 171 books March 1st. April 1st, I only sold 121. I'm expecting to see a pretty big dip in April since there won't be a new book coming out this month. I'm trying not to freak out about it. It's only natural that sales numbers will go up and down. I just hope that I see another great month in May when Book 4 comes out. Only time will tell.
Here are my official sales number for the month of March. Definitely my biggest month so far!
BEAUTIFUL DEMONS - Book 1 of Peachville High Demons series - $0.99 (10/31/10)
- Amazon's Kindle Store - 2064 US sales + 10 UK sales = 2074
- Barnes & Noble - 223
- Smashwords - 6
- Total: 2303
- Amazon's Kindle Store - 1648 US sales + 9 UK sales = 1657
- Barnes & Noble - 214
- Smashwords - 2
- Total: 1873
- Amazon's Kindle Store - 1883 US sales + 9 UK sales = 1892
- Barnes & Noble - 371
- Smashwords - 2
- Total: 2265
That number is almost double my number from February. Before March, I had sold a total of 6436 books. That means that in March alone, I sold more books than I had in all four previous months combined! My total books sold right now stands at 12,877!! I look at the number and have to double check just to make sure it's real. I feel so incredibly blessed to have found this kind of success so quickly.
Like I said, my prediction for April is that sales numbers will continue to drop down just a bit. I am guessing my sales total for this month will be similar to Feb.'s 3000 books. Then, hopefully in May with Book 4 coming out, I will see another upswing into the 6000's. If any other Indie authors are checking this blog, do you see constant growth in numbers from month to month? Or have you had a few months where numbers dropped down, then came back up again later? I'm curious to see what other authors are experiencing.
As many of my followers know, for three years, my husband and I have been living off of his salary alone. I quit my job as a music teacher in an elementary school when I moved to North Carolina to live with the love of my life. He was awesome enough to allow me to write full time and spend my days working toward my dream of becoming an author. For the first time in those three years, his sacrifice paid off. I made more money this month than he did, and that's a huge first for us. I hope this is just the first of many successful months as I work toward my dreams.
A Walk on the Pink Side
It's Friday, yay! I've been working hard on Book 4, and am almost 1/4 of the way finished with the rough draft. Right now, I'm easily on schedule for a mid-May release! I also have some exciting news waiting in the wings about my next series! Stay tuned.
For fun, I decided to color my hair again. As you know, it was purple, then I went teal, and now, I've gone PINK! Here's a pic I took right after I finished this morning:
Sometimes, you just need a change. I love that I have the freedom to change my looks whenever I want to. Just another perk of being a writer without a full-time office job or desk job or teaching job or whatever. It makes me happy :)
Also, we have a house full of poodles. A friend of ours went to Vegas this weekend with his wife and parents, and his parents have three poodles. They don't do so well at the kennel, so they asked us if we could keep them for a few days. How could I resist? They are super cute! I love their little waddly bodies and their super curly hair. Here is a pic I took of them a few minutes ago, all tuckered out from playing with me for a little while.
I'm excited to have them here for a little while. Snickerdoodle, my pom, doesn't really know what to make of them. She's decided to stay in her own room upstairs most of the time, but she's being sweet when she says hello to them. No doggie fights or anything yet, which is good.
In other news, G and I are playing Everquest II again. <3 As anyone who's been following my blog for a while knows, G and I first met playing that game. It's an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) sort of like World of Warcraft. Only better. When we first met, G and I spent a lot of time playing together. Doing quests. Helping each other. Raiding and grouping. Etc. Then, we moved to a station exchange server where you can buy and sell money and characters for real world cash, and we kind of switched our focus to making money for a while. It helped us pay for our wedding big time! The downside there was that we were spending less time just playing together for fun.
Last fall, we stopped playing all together. Canceled our accounts and everything. Then, over Christmas break, we bought World of Warcraft and decided to give it a go. Well, G maxed out his character in less than a month. Due to me writing a lot and not having much time to play, I was still stuck in the 40's. That game doesn't make it really possible to group and quest together in low levels that way EQ2 does, so we weren't spending any time together playing, which sucked. Sooo, long story short, last weekend we decided to go back to Everquest II! This time we're playing on a regular, non-exchange server, and we're leveling up together. He's playing a tank, and I'm playing a healer. It's been fun. We're back to doing the things we used to do together when we first were long-distance dating. Only this time we're sitting next to each other. :) It's awesome.
I'm looking forward to a good weekend of poodles, gaming, and writing!
